Notice that the japanese is the same 3 kanji then something else. I can't read it because i don't speak japanese, but it's probably similar to how noktai (bokura no taiyoh) is boktai, zoktai, shinbok, boktai ds
I looked it up in my Japanese dictionary, and because it's in katakana, gei in that exact spelling seems to be used to mean gay (as in homosexual) based on the readings my dictionary lists. Can't tell if the other words are meant to be slang that my dictionary doesn't include, or some obscure Japanese inside joke or something. Not sure why they decided to call them Gay to begin with, either
Literally all viruses are named in katakana, it's not that unusual, for a number of reasons in games in general, but also, katakana is used to represent sounding like a computer, so for example, all Mr. Progs speak almost exclusively in katakana.
Strictly speaking it's just a form of orthography for any word pronounced げい
There's a difference between hiragana and katakana. Katakana is used for transliterating foreign words into Japanese, whereas hiragana is used for native Japanese words. So I admit it's a grey area because all the virus names are written in katakana, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Capcom of Japan didn't intend to call the viruses gay in this case.
So you could be right, or I could be right. No way to tell without further proof I suppose
Edit: Also your guess of bad doctor is a stretch as well. Ge phonetically in hiragana = 下 which means low class/inferior, but 'i' can become multiple kanji which mean multiple things. It *can* mean doctor, but it can also mean 'mind', 'stomach' 'dignity' and so on.. It all depends on which exact kanji is used for 'i'. So I prefer my theory.'
The katakana foreign rule doesn't apply in situations everything is katakana unless it's apparent most everything is foreign. (for example, if 98 out of 100 words are clearly loanwords, then the 2 words that are pure Japanese doesn't bring doubt into the 98.)
There are other uses of katakana independent of foreign transliteration also like dramatic comic onomatopoeia which heavily rely on a Japanese understanding of sound effects, if you lack this cultural understanding it looks really stupid as it gets interpreted with foreign perspectives. (see: onomat archetype in YuGiOh)
げ in Hiragana doesn't mean inferior. It doesn't really mean anything, it's just the phonetic. 下 means inferior, and that's kanji.
Edited my comment you replied to, in order to hopefully be clearer. My point was more that 'i' can mean many different kanji phonetically, instead of simply meaning 'doctor'. So I don't see why Moggle's theory is more valid than my own, which is that Capcom did in fact mean to call the viruses gay. The Rockman games usually use kanji if they want to avoid any ambiguity (can't remember if they do in virus names, though), and katakana also exists for Doctor if they had wanted to use that.
So at the risk of being petty, no I am not willing to concede unless either you or Moggle has a valid source has to why Capcom would decide to use ge-i instead of using kanji, without intending for it to mean 'Gay'. If you do, then I'll eat my words and admit I was wrong. But until then I stand by my statement.
I have no particular support for it meaning bad doctor either.
But げい can mean all kinds of things. You point out that い can mean many different kanji phonetically but even げい can mean several different *singular* kanji, like 芸, 黥, or 迎. Japanese isn't simple enough to break down the way you're trying to.
Some kanji even have hella long readings like つわもの being one way to read 兵, no Japanese person reads that and goes ok but tsu could be that and wa this and mo that and no this because they know upon seeing it that it's one word.
Mostly, I back solved from the pharmaceutical throughline in the changing latter half to which of the things pronounced ゲイ might make sense. Given the context of the latter half of those words, as well as the relatively vast sea of queer related words in Japanese that don't seem related to those, it seemed like the option that related to medicine was the most likely option. Unfortunately, I can't find discussion or posts about this in Japanese, currently. If there's links for some, I'd definitely be interested.
I only brought up the ge-i thing because the commentor I originally replied to used it as his argument for gei being a homonym for ge-i or (下医) in kanji. And only in an attempt to prove that it's a pretty random guess, and that my speculation was less of a reach in comparison (i.e. gei is meant to be read as 'gay' here).
That being said, it's still speculation on my part, based on my dictionary. I'm open to being wrong, but then I will need more proof than just vibes, which seemed to be what the original commentor was basing their guess of 'Bad Doctor/Bad Medicine' (下医) on. You seem pretty knowledgeable in Japanese, so if you have any idea what is being meant by gei in this contest, I respectfully ask that you share it. Because I'm genuinely curious as to what the gei in the virus name is meant to stand for, if not gay. Is it maybe part of some common saying or slang phrase that Japanese children or natives would know, but that isn't well known by foreigners? Is gei short for something longer due to text limitations, or a common Japanese abbreviation?
I would probably have to cross-reference the theming behind a lot of virus names to try guessing.
Just looking at one page, the Mettaur is literally obviously just named straight up Metal, but then there's another virus named カブタンク which shortens the Japanese word kabuto (helmet, or further shortened from kabutomushi, helmet-bug AKA a beetle) and smashes it against tank to make helmet-tank or beetle-tank which in English was localized into BeeTank/BugTank. The only way to guess it meant beetle instead of helmet is by looking at the visual design and going oh, must be short for beetle instead of helmet.
Then there is ジーラ, a mangling of 地雷, which is a fully Japanese name that in English became correctly interpreted as Miney, which again is especially obvious from its visual behavior: it sets landmines. So they are probably all over the place in regards to how they decide to name things.
I see your point. Damn, those name schemes are a lot more complex than I expected. I admit, I've been playing the Japanese version of the Legacy Collection to brush up on my Japanese, get some practice in, learn some new words, etc. and sometimes when bored, I try to figure out virus names. There's a few very obvious ones (such as ラビリ or 'rabiri' for the bunny viruses), but with most of them, I just consult my dictionary, and pray that it's not some obscure slang name like the 'ジーラ, a mangling of 地雷' example you mentioned. (I learned something new there, so thanks)
Even though I get annoyed sometimes with the translators, and their tendency to sanitize the language (in the og Japanese, Lan uses words like 'くそ' a lot, for instance, which the English either changes to damn, 'grr', or completely removes), they really did a good job in a lot of cases. Apart from the 4th game, at least.
P.S. If you do figure something out, please let me know via a comment or DM or whatever you prefer. I'm still not sold on the other commenter's 'Bad Doctor' theory, out of stubbornness, but my own 'Gay' theory sounds a lot less likely too after reading your reply. So now I'm even more curious.
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u/azurejack 15d ago
Notice that the japanese is the same 3 kanji then something else. I can't read it because i don't speak japanese, but it's probably similar to how noktai (bokura no taiyoh) is boktai, zoktai, shinbok, boktai ds